Is music journalism really a career for an adult?

and, like, only other oldsters listened to john peel, didn't they? daddio.

this is very true. most people don't follow one career path anymore; that's a holdover from the days when there was such a thing as job security.

OTM

I wish I had had that feeling!

I got forwarded a posting about a music blogging job opportunity and one of the stipulations was that you had to read 200 blogs on google reader a day

sounds like some sort of personal hell, tbh

how often are you allowed to pee?

What, exactly, were the other stipulations?

http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/2009/04/prison.jpg
read yr blogs

You couldn't date, you need fresh sand in your litter box, and contact lenses are not included.

hmm you have to oversee a couple of interns, be able to write on a deadline (not too pitchfork-y or press release-y), work at an office in NY

not too pitchfork-y or press release-y

Just kind of journalist...y?

i'd be very interested to see a list of music journalists who aren't the editor of something, who currently, in 2010, live off of it.

you are in a field

― super sexy psycho fantasy world (uh oh I'm having a fantasy), Thursday, 10 December 2009 23:30 (4 months ago)

it is dark now

― super sexy psycho fantasy world (uh oh I'm having a fantasy), Thursday, 10 December 2009 23:30 (4 months ago)

you sleep

― super sexy psycho fantasy world (uh oh I'm having a fantasy), Thursday, 10 December 2009 23:30 (4 months ago)

it is day

― super sexy psycho fantasy world (uh oh I'm having a fantasy), Thursday, 10 December 2009 23:30 (4 months ago)

you take out your notepad

― super sexy psycho fantasy world (uh oh I'm having a fantasy), Thursday, 10 December 2009 23:30 (4 months ago)

on it, you find a picture of your face

― super sexy psycho fantasy world (uh oh I'm having a fantasy), Thursday, 10 December 2009 23:30 (4 months ago)

the notepad, you realize, is a mirror

― super sexy psycho fantasy world (uh oh I'm having a fantasy), Thursday, 10 December 2009 23:30 (4 months ago)

you write a note

― super sexy psycho fantasy world (uh oh I'm having a fantasy), Thursday, 10 December 2009 23:31 (4 months ago)

it is night

― super sexy psycho fantasy world (uh oh I'm having a fantasy), Thursday, 10 December 2009 23:31 (4 months ago)

you are sleepy

― super sexy psycho fantasy world (uh oh I'm having a fantasy), Thursday, 10 December 2009 23:31 (4 months ago)

you look at the notepad

― super sexy psycho fantasy world (uh oh I'm having a fantasy), Thursday, 10 December 2009 23:31 (4 months ago)

you fall into the notepad

― super sexy psycho fantasy world (uh oh I'm having a fantasy), Thursday, 10 December 2009 23:31 (4 months ago)

into the notepad

― super sexy psycho fantasy world (uh oh I'm having a fantasy), Thursday, 10 December 2009 23:31 (4 months ago)

in front you, you see your wife

― super sexy psycho fantasy world (uh oh I'm having a fantasy), Thursday, 10 December 2009 23:32 (4 months ago)

your child is in your arms

― super sexy psycho fantasy world (uh oh I'm having a fantasy), Thursday, 10 December 2009 23:32 (4 months ago)

your face is covered with blood

― super sexy psycho fantasy world (uh oh I'm having a fantasy), Thursday, 10 December 2009 23:33 (4 months ago)

you write on your notepad

― super sexy psycho fantasy world (uh oh I'm having a fantasy), Thursday, 10 December 2009 23:33 (4 months ago)

you are a journalist

― super sexy psycho fantasy world (uh oh I'm having a fantasy), Thursday, 10 December 2009 23:33 (4 months ago)

the job descript says "show that you can write in an animated, intelligent way" that's not too "insider-y, pitchfork academic, or brainless PR"...y

anyway if anyone's interested on this board webmail me and I can forward you the posting. it's for /\/\TV but tbh it sounds like it's for a fresh grad who's willing to live off of cheerios

Not much different from any other grad.

My friend Polly of the Popinjays always said being in a band was for people who hadn't grown up yet

is music journalism really a career for an adult?

is music journalism really a career for an adult?

is music journalism really a career for an adult?

one of the stipulations was that you had to read 200 blogs on google reader a day

what a disaster for Net News Wire users

Congratulation to 200 blogs for their extra 1 reader per day.

Classic Pop Magazine

6 hrs ·
.

Classic Pop is looking for regional correspondents (with some experience in journalism) to cover live shows and festivals in the North and North East.
Anyone interested? Let us know here asap!

(The link doesn't look like it has worked but if you can't figure out how to contact them ... )

answer to q is no, obv

shit we can't all be project managers and scrum masters

all careers are careers for adults

that's what makes them careers

but not every career has an adult

http://crackmagazine.net/opinion/opinion/when-did-music-journalism-stop-wielding-the-axe/

seeing that url I thought piece would be about how music journalists no longer hold authority to wield the axe

big data's a more scientific era. it's guillotines now.

it's p easy to rip things to pieces - that piece is guilty of the old assumption that negativity is somehow more intellectually valid than positivity. in a world where i can just go and listen to anything instantly it's not that worthwhile to have somebody telling me "don't listen to this", i mean except occasionally on some deeper level about a scene or whatever, or as a form of entertainment, or for people who can't see beyond the inherent discrepancy in power between the language of invective and the language of praise.

even talking about "bootings" - you're a middle-aged man sitting typing at a computer, there's nothing violent about criticising music made by some relative children, and if there was, that'd be nothing to feel macho or proud about.

Negative criticism is as important as positive criticism - I'm utterly bored with reading critics that apparently like everything. Nobody likes everything!

it's not as if there isn't still negativity around, or negative reactions to things, it's all still there in abundance, just that not many people need to read one man's big theory of why something is crap.

all rippings are not equal. I cld use a lot more negativity in music criticism, even hyperbolic/one-sided pieces when done well. there's so much stuff which is sufficiently niche that anyone who goes to the trouble of writing about it is cheerleading. liking things is cheap, doesn't require much investment, but I love reading about the things ppl loathe when they really engage, the more specific the better

^^^

it's the joy of dialectic; negative takes on things I love often clarify and harden my love more than a positive piece

in a world where i can just go and listen to anything instantly it's not that worthwhile to have somebody telling me "don't listen to this"

otm, but the accessibility also affects positive criticism - most people prefer listening to music to reading about it, robots can do a lot of the curating

the more specific the better

i'd agree if it was common for negative reviews to be well-executed, but a great many negative reviews end up sounding the same. wildly different things from food to movies to music get criticised for the same reasons.

there's so much stuff which is sufficiently niche that anyone who goes to the trouble of writing about it is cheerleading

i think with this stuff it becomes less and less likely that a hugely negative review has any kind of impact or even veracity. someone can hate it, sure, but it's incredibly difficult to connect it to anything.

a lot of ppl never had a lot of use for personal essays and could only really get on board w music criticism through the ideal of the objective consumer guide/product tester who'd keep their biases in check to save you time

obv most music writing is bad, always has been, but that seems besidea the point. idk what impact or veracity you'd want to aim for exactly, it's all just helping ppl make sense of things, hear them differently. I think it's natural with anything you really love to notice all the senses in which it fails, all the paths it doesn't take and so on, the idea that negativity is some distinct part of the listening/critical process is nonsense

On his side initially, but when he started off on how much he missed the tedious "bootings" of Johnny Cigarettes etc. in the late 90s I lost all sympathy for his argument - it was that sort of thing that put me off music journalism for a decade. I have literally never read one of these "bootings" which is not just an ego trip for the writer to show off his stock of elaborate synonyms for "this is bad, I didn't like it"

obv most music writing is bad, always has been, but that seems besidea the point. idk what impact or veracity you'd want to aim for exactly, it's all just helping ppl make sense of things, hear them differently. I think it's natural with anything you really love to notice all the senses in which it fails, all the paths it doesn't take and so on, the idea that negativity is some distinct part of the listening/critical process is nonsense

i mean, your points here are a lot more thoughtful and reasoned than someone talking about "bootings" etc in such an aggrandising and childish way.

In these unsteady times, the role of the critic in rocking the boat is more – not less – important. Contemporary trends in advertising and the corporate hollowing out of the media are so dire that in a decade you, the reader and consumer of music, are likely to be faced by an endless spew of clickbait and commercialised dross. It is our responsibility as critics to join the rearguard action against the age of beige, to call out its musical enablers, and start fighting back.

i mean... ffs. yeah cos otherwise we sheeple will be brainwashed by the media men. seriously - imagine having that level of self-importance.

likely to be faced by an endless spew of clickbait and commercialised dross

what does this actually mean? "faced by" - ie it exists. "an endless spew" - on... sites i don't read? doesn't seem endless.

this is "i don't like pop" volume 2,000,000 and that obvious vibe undermines anything thoughtful that could be said, ogmor much more reasonable on here tho

I think lgs and ogmors good thoughts on things above are separate to the real issue

Music writing is or may be ok but music writers are bad and should not exist

The answer for this thread title is “no but it should be”

Otm.

Looked up the lyrics for "Cover of the Rolling Stone" and made an attempt at a Rob Sheffield-style rewrite. ("Thoreau is like Ralph Emerson/Ralph Emerson is what I read!") Quickly gave up--virtually impossible to work in "Just to be clear, you'll be paying them."

Rolling Stone rescinded my job offer after I attempted to negotiate the salary. https://t.co/FVRCQRKaaN

— kate lindsay (@kathrynfiona) January 22, 2021

I don't know if anyone gets Todd Burns' Substack newsletter, but this was pretty funny in this morning's:

Corrections Department

Last week, I wrote that Rolling Stone is paying thought leaders to write for them. It is, in fact, the opposite. Rolling Stone is asking thought leaders to pay Rolling Stone to write for the magazine. Which is, uh, quite a difference.

OnThisDay 1978: The Clash’s Joe Strummer and Rick Wakeman from Yes discussed the press with music journalists Nick Kent and Ray Coleman. pic.twitter.com/dGfF2SbX4e

— BBC Archive (@BBCArchive) May 20, 2021